ADVENT -- TIME TO PRAY

Do you say your prayers well, my children?  This is a very relevant question. We should ask it to ourselves every day.  Listen to what our Holy Mother at La Salette told the children, Melanie and Maximin: , "...you must say at least one "Our Father" and a "Hail Mary" every day." Brothers and Sisters, we heard almost those same words from her  Son, when He taught his disciples to pray, by teaching them the "Our Father"...
This is the season of Advent. We are engaged in preparing ourselves not so much for the birth of the Christ  Child  because that happened more than 2000 years ago. Now, his Incarnation inspires us to prepare and get ready for his daily coming in our lives and his second coming at the end time.  The preparation for his birth by Mary and Joseph foreshadows our preparation for Christ’s coming  in our daily lives and his coming at the end time. We look up to Mary and Joseph to admire their many sacrifices, to respect the time they spent in prayer and to reflect on their life experience.  May we, in preparation for the celebration of the Incarnation,  nurture the desire to pray every day at least one "Our Father" and a "Hail Mary" for each other. And even, as suggested by the Beautiful Lady, if we have the opportunity, "...give it a little more.
Pierrot Zaessinger, France is the source for much is this introductory reflection, with the input of Belle Dion

ST. JEROME IN A SHEPHERDS' CAVE, BETHLEHEM

This is a blog that reaches many, many alumni of La Salette mission schools in the Cagayan Valley of Isabela, in the northern part of Luzon Island in the Philippines.  Some years ago it was a rather small and insignificant tool to communicate the news of Our Lady of La Salette to expatriate and at home Filipinos, lovers of Our Lady.  Now, this space has become home for all of our Holy Mother Mary's children.  We look to her every day of our lives and strive to dry her tears by our kindness and prayers.  Now let us remember  Mother Mary during the last month before her delivery.  Can we imagine her, eight months pregnant, sitting on the back of a donkey for 100 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem? 

It is through this sacrifice of Mary that we are introduced to the passion of her Son Jesus.  It is into these hardships that we dip our own selves into the hard work of helping one another to be good people.  The missionaries who carry the message of Jesus and Mary around the world, walk the 100 miles with Mary and the 3/4 of a mile with Jesus on the way to Calvary.  It is to the International family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph that this blog is dedicated and offered every time.  

NOW, SOME NEWS, 

Alumni and alumnae and others who lived in San Diego, California may have worked at a company called Kyocera International.  A man named George Woodworth was responsible for hiring many of you and maybe even your children.   He was a good and fair man.  One of the reasons why he hired me was because I had been a missionary in the Philippines for 11 years.  He was hoping that Kyocera could help the new immigrants from the Philippines.  George died on Friday, November 25 of this year.  I was invited by his widow to lead a prayer service at his funeral on Thursday, December 1, 2011.  Those present whom some of you may know were Gene Lyons, Steve Kulchin, Rob Stevens, Mike Kawamura and Mr. Shirai.

Father Maurice Cardinal has finished his radiology treatments.  He is fine.

Father Robert Campbell has died.

The Christmas lights have been lit at the National shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro, Massachusetts.

NOTICE OF CHANGE:

The medical mission being prepared for Santiago city in the Philippines is rescheduled for March.

La Mission medical destinee pour Santiago aux Philippines aura lieu au mois de mars, non au mois de janvier comme nous l'avions annonce.

The first four candidates for the La Salette Lay Community in California will spend a day of retreat  on Saturday, December 17.  This will prepare them for the Rite of Welcome which will take place on Saturday, January 7, 2012.  We need your prayers.


May your Advent be filled with HOPE, FAITH and JOY!